


Two kids in search of a better author

by Sadisticsparkle (sadisticsparkle)



Category: A-Babies Vs. X-Babies
Genre: Breaking the Fourth Wall, Fluff, M/M, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25819831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadisticsparkle/pseuds/Sadisticsparkle
Summary: In which Steve Rogers is having none of this non-sense, Tony smiles a lot and the narrator is desperate.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 15
Kudos: 24
Collections: Team Fluff





	Two kids in search of a better author

**Author's Note:**

> SteveTony Games prompt: time loop

It was a morning like any other morning. The sun rose over Marville’s tidy rows of houses where people were yawning and blasting off their alarms clocks with lasers and curling under their blankets.

Everybody, that is, except Steve. Steve always rose just before dawn, so he could squeeze one round of training before school. The rest of the Avengers never ever followed his example, and that astounding lack of effort was the reason they kept losing to the X-Men at dodgeball. Steve would have to make up for it, then, all by himself.

After his training, he always had a big healthy breakfast that followed all the government guidelines about childhood nutrition. He did it so quickly and efficiently that not one crumb was left on the table. It was time to leave, then. He grabbed his backpack, said goodbye to his parents, and stepped outside.

Tony was there on the sidewalk, waiting for him with a big smirk. Tony was always smirking, but Steve did not mind because it was a very nice smile. Not that he would ever tell Tony that, of course. That would have been embarrassing. Like any other day, they walked to school together, talking about the plans they had for their clubhouse. Tony wanted a new hot tub, Steve thought they’d needed another training room.

‘Nobody ever uses the train…’ Tony began saying and then he got what he deserved: he tripped on a rock and fell face-first to the sidewalk.

Steve offered him his hand, but Tony refused. He was proud like that sometimes. Or all the time. It was one of his least attractive qualities. Not that he cared about Tony’s attractive qualities at all. They were just good friends.

School was the same as it was every day: he paid attention in class (it was his duty as a student), he fought with Summers during recess, and then he went back home like he did every day.

The next morning was also a morning like any other morning. The sun yawned and stretched over Marville’s tidy rows of houses. People rose and blasted off their alarm clocks and curled under their blankets.

Steve, like any other day, woke up before dawn and began training. He then sat down for breakfast and that was when the first odd thing happened: his whole wheat pancake was exactly the same as it had been the day before. And no, my dear reader, it wasn’t because most pancakes look like pancakes. It was eerily the same: each bubble, each darker spot, even the way it looked a bit like the Iron Man helmet.

He ignored it because his mom was so good at pancakes that maybe it had been on purpose. Tony was outside waiting for him and his smile was just as nice as it had been the day before, but that was also normal. It wasn’t until Tony began telling him about his plans for the new hot tub in the clubhouse that Steve suspected something was off.

‘Wait. We talked about this. Yesterday,’ he said with a very deep frown that showed that he was having very deep thoughts.

‘No, we didn’t. Yesterday we talked about Summers being a poopyhead.’

‘We always talk about that.’

‘But you told me about the hot tub. I remember. I told you that we should have another training room.’

‘Nobody ever uses the train…’ Tony began saying and then he tripped with the rock from the day before. That happened a lot to Tony.

But Steve, thanks to his training and his super-fast reflexes, was ready this time. He grabbed Tony’s hand before he fell and brought him closer. Tony blushed. Steve definitely didn’t (he did not blush, at all).

‘Hm. Thanks? For catching me.’

‘I’ll always catch you,’ Steve said and this time he did blush. So he let go of Tony and took a step back. ‘Well, not always. This was because I remembered it. From yesterday.’

‘So… time loop, probably,’ Tony said. ‘You know what those are?’

‘Oh, no. Do you think I have to _learn a lesson_?’

Because the Avengers were the very best gang in Marville (and because Steve was very, very responsible), they already had time loop protocols in place. Strange wasn’t able to help and neither was Tony’s science, so Steve moved to more moral solutions. First, he went around town helping old ladies cross the street and rescuing cats from trees, but because he already did that every day, it did not solve his problem. Then he thought hard about any past mistakes until he remembered that one book he had forgotten to return to the school library. The librarian wasn’t very impressed by his moral fortitude and nothing happened, so Steve then… well, it was time for the nuclear option.

He knocked on the X-Men Clubhouse.

‘Why are you here?’ Summers said.

Steve sighed. He was very good at sighing.

‘I came here to apologize for calling you a poopyhead.’

Summers, because he was a poopyhead indeed, only laughed at him. And worse — nothing happened.

Little did he know he wouldn’t find the answer for some time.

‘What?’

He was so sad he had begun to talk to himself. Maybe if he asked his friends...

‘I’m not talking to myself. I’m talking to you.’

Oh, he was so desperate he was beginning to go mad.

‘Hey, I’m not mad! I know you’re there! I know you did this.’

He was raging against the heavens.

‘No, I’m raging against you. This is a very silly story, you know?’

Well, Marville was a very silly place.

‘I know, but this is even sillier. Just tell me what I gotta do.’

If the narrator did that, narrative suspense would be broken. Steve had to grow as a character before the solution showed itself.

‘Oh, come on, you know you only have five hours before the Games end! We gotta wrap this up.’

While it was true the [SteveTony Games](https://stevetonygames.dreamwidth.org/) were almost to their conclusion, the narrator was not so desperate yet.

‘It’s 4 AM. You have work today. You _are_ that desperate.’

That was true. If only Steve would realize what the header of this fic said…

‘… what does _Steve/Tony_ mean?’

Oh, he was finally getting it.

‘Hey, I’m not gonna… we’re just friends!’

Too bad. He wasn’t getting out of the time loop unless he admitted it.

‘… you mean it, don’t you? You’d leave me here forever.’

And go translate some of my own fills, yes.

‘… what do I have to do?’

Be honest with him.

‘… fine. I will. Are you happy now?’

Now, if only Steve would say that Stark men are made of iron…

‘They’re not. Tony’s a softie.’

Yes, but the narrator needed the points.

‘Okay. Okay. Tony acts tough but deep inside he’s very sweet and caring. Is that enough?’

By speaking the truth inside his heart, Steve had broken the time loop.

‘You’re very annoying.’

So was Steve.

Even if the sun rose like it did every day and if people yawned and blasted their blankets and curled with their alarm clocks, it was not a morning like any other. Steve was too nervous to even train and for the first time ever, he did not finish his breakfast. When he opened the door, he blushed because Tony was there like every day, with his dazzling smile.

‘Hi,’ he said sullenly. ‘What did we talk about yesterday?’

‘… we called Summers a poopyhead. Why are you asking?’

Steve took a deep breath.

‘I was trapped in a time loop and it was one of those where you have to learn a lesson and my lesson is that I like you. So there.’

Tony blinked one. Then he blinked twice. Then he blinked thrice.

‘We’re friends. Of course, you like me.’

‘Not… not that type of like.’

Tony blinked for the fourth time. ‘Uh. Please tell me you didn’t kiss me.’

No, they hadn’t because these are children and children at most hold hands.

Which is what they did, that morning and every other morning after.


End file.
